Loblolly pine response to drainage and fertilization of hydric soils

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Abstract

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) productivity on wet flats
of the lower coastal plain of Virginia is largely affected
by the presence of high water tables and infertile soil.
Site preparation by bedding and ditching can alleviate high
water tables and increase aerated soil rooting volume,
enhancing pine productivity. Fertilizing and liming may
improve soil fertility by increasing available nutrients and
soil pH.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate two widely used site preparation methods, bedding and ditching, and to
study the effects of fertilizer added at plantation age 9 years. Three site preparation treatments, on jurisdictional
wetlands near Franklin, VA, were evaluated for their effects
on water table depths and rotation-aged loblolly pine growth
and yield. The study consisted of three blocks of three 4-ha plots each; all blocks had been harvested and chopped and
burned in 1969. The treatments were none (control), bedded
and ditched. In 1978, fertilizer treatments were applied to
four-O.l0 ha subplots in the center of the 4-ha plots.
Treatments were none (control); P; N and P; and N, P, and
lime. Water table levels were measured biweekly during the
growing season and monthly, thereafter, for the first three
years and at age 23 years. A 12.5-percent inventory of
overstory diameters with a subsample of total heights was
completed for all species on each plot.